In the wake of the death of a University of Rochester student that has gripped the campus and underscored the dangers of heroin, the university's president on Friday implored students who may be using drugs to seek treatment.

In a written statement issued to students and staff, Joel Seligman cited a recent university survey that found a small number of undergraduates have used heroin and urged them to "please get help."

"I want to make a special plea to the students, faculty, staff and others in our community with regard to heroin," Seligman said. "Heroin has killed. In too many cases, heroin has been adulterated in unpredictable ways whose baneful effects the user cannot anticipate. Please get help."

His comments follow a rash of fatal heroin overdoses in the Rochester region and the death of Juliette Richard, a university freshman who was found dead in her dormitory at Hoeing Hall on March 29.

Investigators with the Rochester Police Department and the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office have not attributed Richard's death to drug use, although students and published reports have speculated that heroin played a role.

In carefully crafted remarks, Seligman referred to Richard, of Bolton, Mass., by name and cited "rumors about heroin use," but said it would be inappropriate to reach any conclusions about her death until investigators reveal a cause.

That poll found that 0.4 percent of college students used heroin in the last nine days. The poll also suggested that students perceive the drug to be more ubiquitous than it is, with more than one in five believing that their peers used heroin in the previous nine days.

Seligman's comments coincided with an announcement out of Albany that a Senate task force on heroin addiction would hold a series of 12 public hearings on the matter. The first is scheduled for April 8 at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island.

An abundance of cheap and impure heroin across the Rochester region led to a sharp rise in deadly overdoses last year, with fatalities surging fivefold since 2011, according to data recently released by the Medical Examiner's Office.

The statistics and anecdotal evidence suggest that users are trending younger than ever, lured by street prices that range from $6 to $10 per hit and a more intense high than that offered by costly and less accessible prescription opioid painkillers, like Oxycontin and Vicodin.

Greater Rochester saw 65 heroin overdoses last year, compared to 28 a year earlier and 11 in 2011. The sharp rise reflects a troubling national trend that health care and drug treatment specialists say stems from a prescription painkiller epidemic among mostly suburban and rural youths.

University of Rochester students and faculty packed the campus chapel Thursday to mourn Richard, whom friends recalled as "selfless."

"As soon as you met Juliette, you knew how beautiful and wild she was," said fellow student Amanda Van Auken before a candle-lit altar dedicated to Richard. "Even though she was always fun, it took spending more time with her to realize how deeply she cared about others and how shockingly unselfish she was."